1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information displaying apparatus such as an electronic dictionary and to a computer program for displaying explanation information concerning a headword.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic dictionary has been in practical use, in which, when a user enters a word that he/she wants to learn the meaning of, so as to input an instruction to search for the word, the word is searched for through explanation contents previously stored therein, and the explanation content concerning the word is read out and displayed.
Another electronic dictionary is also in practical use, in which when the user enters a desired word, headwords which coincide with the entered word and similar words are displayed in list form, and when the user selects his/her desired word among the plural headwords or similar words displayed in list form, a display screen is switched to display the explanation content concerning the selected word, allowing the user to learn the appropriate meaning of his/her desired word.
Moreover, an electronic dictionary has been proposed which has a list display area and a preview display area for a headword, and which displays in the list display area a list of candidate headwords for entered characters and simultaneously displays information corresponding to a word selected with a cursor among the list of candidate headwords.
Further, an electronic dictionary has been put to practical use, in which, when the user enters his/her desired word, headwords which coincide with the entered word and words similar to the entered words are displayed in list form, and when the user's desired word is selected among the plural headwords or similar words displayed in list form, a display screen is switched to display the explanation content concerning the selected word, allowing the user to learn the appropriate meaning of his/her desired word.
Another electronic dictionary has been in practical use, in which search characters consisting of plural words (not a single word) are searched for, and an electronic dictionary is put to practical use, in which a data base specialized in phrases is prepared, and search characters consisting of plural words are searched for through the specialized data base.
To search for a phrase, a dictionary having a data base specialized in phrases is used, or a word is searched for in such a data base and the user learns the phrase from an example sentence contained in the explanation content concerning the word.
In the conventional dictionaries set forth above, since the whole explanation content concerning the selected keyword is displayed, the user is forced to read the explanation content from the very beginning until reaching desired appropriate explanation content, which requires troublesome work. Further, in the electronic dictionary which displays information of a headword selected with the cursor for a previewing purpose as described above, the user is required to read the explanation content from the beginning until reaching desired appropriate explanation content.
Some electronic dictionaries display plural explanation contents of the selected headword, but the explanation contents to be displayed are changed every time another headword is selected among those displayed in list form. Therefore, when the appropriate content is not contained in the currently displayed explanation contents, the user is required to make a time consuming manipulation to change the displayed explanation contents to obtain appropriate information.
In searching for a phrase though a specialized dictionary prepared for searching for a phrase, a phrase such as “word+a preposition” having a special meaning may be searched or found, but a phrase of “word+a preposition” having a normal meaning is not often found in such a specialized dictionary.
As described above, it will be difficult for a beginner to determine which dictionary is suitable for the user to search for a series of words.
For example, when the beginner thinks the search characters to be searched for are “word+a preposition”, but the search characters actually are “word+infinitive”, it will be difficult for the beginner to find correct meanings of such search characters.
Further, in searching for a phrase though the dictionary specialized in phrases, the meaning of the phrase to be searched for varies depending on a main word contained in such phrase.
As described above, even if the user uses any electronic dictionary, it is difficult for the user to search for search characters consisting of plural words through the electronic dictionary to learn an appropriate meaning.